Last night's Chris Isaak Hour featured Billy Corgan and his now departed bandmate Jimmy Chamberlin in a predictably petulant Q&A intercut with sweet acoustic performances to remind us why we still care about the Smashing Pumpkins. Along with their touring musicians, Chamberlin and a harmonica-playing Corgan were joined by horns and violin on...

Photo by Matt ZieglerTheir synthpop phase was more than a decade ago now, so maybe it's time for the Smashing Pumpkins to indulge in another time-honored aging-rocker career cliche: Going retro! Or maybe not. But in the next few months, the reconstituted 90s alt-pop heroes will make a couple of moves that smack of PBS respectability. For one t...

Retro rocker/funnyman Chris Isaak has a new interview show premiering on the Biography Channel :( tomorrow night. It's called The Chris Isaak Hour, not to be confused with the fictionalized Chris Isaak Show that aired on Showtime a few years ago. Or maybe it is to be confused, they are pretty similar titles. It's a Q&A and performance format...

Finnish band HIM played to a surprisingly small crowd this evening (June 14).